VOTE Poster Assignment

 I first began with the idea of yellow because it represents optimism and it is not a party colour. However, I did want to incorporate the four party colours, so I found this symbol for Ontario and individually coloured them with samples from the each party's website (Liberal, Conservative, NDP and Green). I put in the slogans "Be Heard. Vote", "Take pride in who represents you", and "Your Province Your Future Your Vote" to communicate to the youth audience the importance of casting your ballot. I also wanted to include the flag of Ontario, but I couldn't think of a creative way to place it in this poster, so I made a new one with the new concept.

This my final design for the election poster. The background began with the Ontario flag, which I extended from the bottom so I would have room for the text. The idea was to inform the voters that their vote will impact Ontario's future, so casting your ballot should be an important decision you make. The simplicity of this poster expresses the message loud and clear to the future voters.

Macro Photography

Original

The Perfect Two - Texture

This is my first macro photograph. It is entitled "The Perfect Two" because dandelions are a primary source of nectar and pollen for bees during the spring season so they're always near each other. When I saw the bee land on the head of the dandelion, I thought it was such a perfect opportunity to get a clear, detailed shot of an interesting insect with a bright plant. I didn't want to use the zoom function on my camera because I felt it would ruin the quality of the photo, so I got as close as I could for all my photos to get the best results. To begin my post-production process, I cropped the image from the sides and the top, which makes the dandelion seem taller with more grass space underneath. I enhanced the image in numerous ways, including hue & saturation, shadows & highlights and colour adjustment. The focal point is definitely the radiant dandelion, and the bee catches you off guard so you will notice it quickly as well.

Original

Somewhere Over the Rainbow - Colour

For my second image, I experimented with changing the dandelion from one colour, to a kaleidoscope of colours. "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" is the chosen title because I used a rainbow stripped gradient on a new layer over the dandelion. Before I made the gradient, I converted the image to black and white, making the gradient would be more visible against the white petals rather than the yellow ones. I also had to adjust the shadows & highlights so the tiny details in the dandelion would be seen through the gradient. I also cropped the photo tight on the bottom and right side, while leaving the rest open, making the dandelion in the corner of the frame. The multicolored dandelion stands out against the grey grass, which shows that it is the focal point.

A Rose Without its Thorns - Balance

Original

Here is my final macro image. I chose the title "A Rose Without its Thorns" because the original flower is not a rose and has no thorns, but after the editing process the flower transformed into a rose-like beauty. For the post-production process, I cropped all four sides slightly to take out extra background space. I then revised the hue to embrace the green of the leaves, and change the soft pink petals to red ones. As always, I played around the the saturation and highlights to bring life to the photo. As most of the small flowers were changed to red with the hue enhancement, one of them that begun to bloom chose to stay its light blush colour. Either the red flowers or the light pink one could be the focal point of this photo.

Restoration Photos

Original Photo #1

After

After (gradient)

Here is the first photograph that I restored. Before I made any changes, the photo had several stains, scratch marks, and wrinkles that made the appearance unpleasing. I duplicated the layer, converted to black & white, and cropped the sides and bottom of the image to take away unnecessary space. The majority of my time I used the clone stamp tool to take out the damage to bring the photo back to life. For my final images, I chose to put a gradient in the background, and one without the gradient. I am pleased with the result of this image, the gradient isn't as appealing as the alternate photo though.

Original Photo #2

After (painted background)

After

This is the second photo restoration. This image also had multiple stains and scratches, including one large tear through the baby's mouth. The same process was repeated; duplicate, convert, crop, and clone stamp. It was more difficult to eliminate the rip that is covered in tape that's horizontally stretched across the photo. I played around with selecting different sections to clone so the colour would look realistic, and eventually it cooperated. Again, I replaced the background with a grey colour for one of the final images, and I personally think that one turned out better than the other one.

Composite Image

Poly-chromatic Shore

Water

Sky 

Mountains

This is my composite image entitled "Poly-chromatic Shore" due to the various colours that draw most of the attention. My concept was to make an image that portrayed a strong sunset with a contrasting landscape. During the technique process, I found three images on Google to piece together to create my composite photo, one for water, one for sky, and one for green mountains. I used the water photo as my base and replaced it's sky with the photo of the more eye catching sunset. I played around with the hue & saturation on both the sky and water layer, and added gradients with lowered opacity's to bold what original colours they had. Even though I wanted the water and sky to be very clear, I decided to add in some distant mountains for details. I took them out of their original photo and adjusted them so they would look as realistic as possible on top of the water. I copied the mountains and placed them behind the first copy so they would shadow them. Again, I revised the hue & saturation to blend the mountains in with it's new surroundings. This image turned out good, but I think it could have been better if I had added more layers and details.

Composite Critique

"Transfer"

These three images were created by Kevin Corrado, a 22 year old Photographer and Graphic Designer from Connecticut. He attended Shintaro Akatsu School of Design and Bridgeport Connecticut, earning a BFA in Graphic Design. Corrado had a very successful year in 2012, being apart of many exhibitions, accepting awards, and being published in multiple books & magazines. 
Each background image appears to be either painted or photographed, with a hand that becomes painted with the main colour of the landscape as it's reaching down. I imagine Corrado dipping his hand or someone else's in a bucket of paint that is close to the colour of what he chooses the background to be. While using technology, he most likely took the arm out of it's original photo, placed it on top of the landscape photo and aligned the line separating the paint and skin with the line separating the sky and the water, earth, and clouds.  
I think the result all of three images are very pleasing and intriguing. Corrado used a simple concept and made it into a beautiful representation of how we see colours in different landscapes. The title "Transfer" also is very fitting since the images show the transfer of colour from nature to our finger tips.

Digital Painting

Rose Synesthesia

This is my design for the Digital Abstract task. I used Photoshop Elements and began filling the image with monochromatic-coloured circles. I feel that the lightest and darkest sections catch the eye compared to the pinks and purples, specifically the light piece near the bottom left. I ended up distorting the circles and transformed them to look how they do now. The light sections could portray a bright, playful mood, while the dark purples could give off a feel of deep passion or desire.

Panic! At The Over Paint

For the Over Paint task, I chose to paint Brendon Urie, 

lead singer for the band Panic! At The Disco.The concept of this was to make Brendon look somewhat like a detailed cartoon character, or similar to that famous Andy Warhol of Barack Obama when it comes to the different tones in the skin. When I quickly glance at this image, the first two things that capture my attention are his thick glasses, and round buttons on his sweater. They are both filled with mainly a solid black, resulting in the contrast against the calm colours of his face and right side of his sweater. His face also has a very sweet, shy smile that communicates a pleasing emotion softness and delightfulness. For the background, I chose a subtle violet that matched a part of his sweater which added to the pleasantness of the image.

Original

Seep Into Bliss 

I chose to make another abstract painting for the third image of my choosing. The obvious focal point is the black circle and the drip coming from it. That circle could represent someone who is surrounded by negativity, but breaks through their barriers (the faded squares) to get to a better place. The black's contrast is evident against the shades of grey and even more against the creamy, peach colour. At the same time, the greys appear to be harmonious with the peach colour as they blend very well together.

Poetry Anthology Cover Design

Cover

This is my design for the poetry cover contest. My entry should be chosen to represent Lourdes poetry because it's simple and gives a visual to students' pieces of writing. The butterfly represents hope and new beginnings which most of the content will easily connect to. The violet gradient background represents the imaginative and creative poets that will show their talent behind the cover. Other students will be drawn in to open to book since teenagers tend to like to know how their peers are feeling and how they're thinking.

                                                                                 

Guelph Multicultural Festival Poster Design

This is my poster entry for the Guelph Multicultural Festival this year. I believe my design should be chosen because it represents diversity and that is what the festival's main focus is. Referring to the colour emotion guide, the slight rainbow effect over the Earth represents diversity by showing more than one colour, while the main focus is more than one ethnic background as well. The concept of the poster is clear and simple for anyone to know that is it showing equality and multiculturalism. I definitely think that the focal point would catch anyone's attention since there are four different cultures put into one face, and that symbolizes that we are all the same on the inside.

Flower CD Mobile Installation

Our group decided to use CD's for this installation assignment, inspired by Alexander Calder. The purpose of this mobile is to give off a bright, pleasant feeling when you are in the front foyer. The process of putting this together was simple, but took some time. We began with painting the blank, boring sides of the CD's with acrylic paint and transforming them to flowers, and left the other side so it would reflect light from the top windows in the foyer. From the photos to the left, the colour scheme is cool colours on the left and left of the middle three, warm colours on the right and right of the middle three, and the very middle column is mixed. Physically putting it together was challenge to balance the sides equally. We used fulcrums to hang the CD's in separate lines, and used lots of knots and glue to keep everything stable and in place. The very middle column originally had 7 CD's, while the other ones had 6 to make it the focal point. Our mobile turned out different than we planned, but we still had very good results that communicated joyous & good vibes that is very kinetic.

Digital Portaits

Joyous & Amused 

Original Photo

This is a portrait of Caz laughing at the black feather boa that was put around her head for our class photo shoot. Her clear emotion in this photo is joyous & amused. She wasn't aware that I was taking a picture until after the flash went off, and that made the image that much better. She has a big grin on her face that made everyone around her laugh along with her and it is evident.
When I took this photo, most of the classroom lights were off while others were setting up the staged lights near the back wall, so all the lighting was the simple flash from my camera. I liked the fact that you couldn't see any signs that she was wearing her school uniform and that I didn't have to take out anything that was distracting, except the background. I replaced the background with a black & white gradient with the white coming from behind Caz to show where the focus is, and converted Caz into black & white as well.

Sorrow & Desperation

Original Photo

This is a portrait of a statue of a man at The Donald Forster Sculpture Park by the University of Guelph. This man's face shows sorrow and desperation very deeply, you can see it in his eyes, mouth, wrinkles specifically. He seems desperate for something or someone and wouldn't know what to do without them/it, which creates the sorrow emotion.
The weather the day I took this photo was very cloudy and depressing so that affected the lighting, not in a bad way though. I went up close to this statue and put his face a bit off center, so cropping the photo was not needed. During the post-production process, I converted the photo to black & white to show more focus on the black statue face which contrasts with the white snow and sky.

Lifeless & Seeking

Original Photo

This portrait is a group of statue heads on metal plates also at The Donald Forster Sculpture Park. The faces look almost identical when it comes to emotion, and all share the same lifeless facial expression. I can also see that the heads are all facing different directions, which could show that they are seeking for something, whether it be love, hope, or to mean something and make a difference.
The lighting was the same as the previous image which was the cloudy sky, showing the sadness of the photo. Cropping was not required for this image either since I could walk right up to the statues. The post-production for this image was using the lasso tool to take the main focus out of the meaningless background of trees and snow and place it on top of grey clouds to give off the lifeless vibe.

Overlay Portrait

For my first overlay portrait, I used the photograph taken in class with the light to create the black shadow, and by changing the levels on the photo, the shadow became more distinct. When I took out the background, I kept it plain black to blend in with my face shadow and make my face stand out more. I rotated and dragged the red smoke on top of my face with a lower opacity to fade into my face and this texture worked out very well. The red hair highlights go well with the red smoke and the low-opacity brush tool cooperated with me easily to blend the black into the face on this portrait. I could have removed those faded red lines since they are not an important part of the image, and I have just noticed at the very right I dropped a dark red line instead of black.






















For my extra portrait overlay, I used the same photograph and changed the levels again to give off the same shadow effect as before.. I took out the background and replaced it with a gradient from a deep red to black to match the shine from the hair. When I put the texture over top my face, I lowered the opacity and erased unwanted areas. I didn't think it looked very natural due to the contrast of black and the brown/yellow, so I tried to make the edges darker with the low-opacity brush tool of black, and I think it helped a bit, but not as much as the first image. I didn't like how uneven the erasing around my hair against the gradient background turned out because it looks quite raggedy and unrealistic too. The gradient itself turned out great to match the red glare from my hair.

In both overlays, I used the rule of thirds when I cropped the images. I only erased the texture from my eye in both portraits and not my eyebrow because it was too light to show it naturally. 

This is the original, un-cropped photo.

Digital Warhol Style Portraits

For this photo, I used orange and three different shades of blue because they are complementary colours on the colour wheel. The eyes are a light blue, the mouth is a bright blue, and the background is a primary blue.

In this image I used analogous colours on my portrait. The background is a mix of red-violet and red, the face is a bright purple, eyes are light red-violet, and the mouth is bright red-violet. These toned colours go well together and the black section contrasts them easily.

For this edit, I switched it up and changed the black to blue and used cool, monochromatic colours of blue. Since blue itself is a darker colour, it doesn't give off the "negative" effect other brighter colours might show.

When I uploaded this photo to blogger, something went wrong and a bit of colour (light purple) was lost in my eyes. I tried re-painting and saving again but it remained the same.

Yellow and purple are complementary colours and they both stand out against the black frame.

My favourite image would have to be the blue monochromatic one because the cool colours ended up looking very nice beside eachother without any black sections. Each image took me a while to paint because there was a lot of pixels I had to zoom in and fill in individually. Next time I could paint over the pixel areas to save myself time.

This is the original, un-cropped and un-thresholded photo.

Flag Day Photojournalism

General Thomas Lawson receiving Our Lady of Lourdes National Leadership Award.
I chose to crop it to the point where both girls and the Crusaders symbol were kept in the photo.

Students showing spirit for Flag Day by doing face paint, stamps, and carrying the Canadian flag.
I chose to keep this photo in colour because the red of the stamps, paint, flag is important part of representing our flag.

Veterans saluting the Canadian flag as O Canada is being sung by Lourdes Choir.
I cropped a bit off the left side to center to flag and the black & white puts more emotion into the scene.